A Gauteng woman has won her dismissal case in which she was fired for smoking medical cannabis after work.
The Labour Court has ruled in favour of a Gauteng woman who was fired for smoking a joiint after work. Photo: iStock In a groundbreaking judgment, the Labour Appeal Court of South Africa ordered Barloworld to pay R1 million (or a year’s salary) to a woman who was fired from the global industrial company for consuming medical cannabis after hours.
The ruling could prove to be a real game changer as it finally addresses the thorny issue of being granted the constitutional right to smoke cannabis in your private space – but facing dismissal for the presence of the substance lingering in your blood. Cannabis case: Zero approach ‘irrational’
The Labour Court found this week that Barloworld’s zero-approach policy to drugs and alcohol was “overbroad” and infringed on employer Bernadette Enever’s right to privacy.
It further ruled that Barloworld’s Alcohol and Substance Abuse Policy is “irrational and violates the right to privacy in Section 14 of the Constitution”, to the extent that it prohibits office-based employees who do not work with or within an environment that has heavy, dangerous and similar equipment, from consuming cannabis in the privacy of their home.
The Constitutional Court found in September 2018 that the personal use or cultivation of dagga in one’s private space is not a criminal offence and that not allowing a person to smoke cannabis in private was against the protection of privacy […]
Puff puff pass: Fired cannabis employer wins appeal, gets R1m
